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I've recently come across a really interesting article that promotes a different hypothesis of how Enneagram types form during childhood and I thought I should present it briefly on the blog.

It's commonly accepted that the Enneagram type has both a genetic component and an environmental component and it's their interaction that decides the final typology. This theory states that there are three major innate orientations of the personality and that we are all born with one of them prevalent over the other two. Furthermore, it suggests that each of the nine Enneagram types is a consequence of the way in which the child's preferred inborn orientation (the hereditary component) interacts with the one that their parent - or main caretaker - has towards them in the forming years (the environmental component).

Three Basic Orientations

The three orientations are an expression of the Law of Three, on which the entire Enneagram concept is based. This law states that there are t…

We all know what Enneagram types do when they're stressed out, as it's been long discussed in a wide number of publications. And it's been long complained the fact that the Myers Briggs theory isn't a dynamic system because it doesn't explain how its 16 types act when in distress. I beg to differ. The cognitive functions that underlie each type offer pertinent predictions of how the types will act when unhealthy.

These are a series of likely scenarios of how Myers Briggs types tend to disintegrate when under substantial and long-enduring stress. They are based on each type's functional stacking and reveal the typical ways in which the third and fourth functions can rise into consciousness and spoil the psychological balance of each type. These scenarios are inspired by Lenore Thomson's work.

ESTJs are likely to start viewing others as being overly subjective and weak, therefore consider that it's time to take control and set things right. They can becom…